Sailor Kuiper: Rise of the Gods
by mkt568
Summary: The final leg of Sailor Moon: The Alternate Story. Sailor Kuiper faces his greatest challenge of all as he goes against the Greek Gods themselves.


**Rise of the Gods**

Prologue

It has been three years since my battle against Terror and his Neo-Demons. In between then and now, I have also made my mark as a hero in Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Antarctica, and Africa. In my most recent adventure in Egypt, I have reunited my Shoebill, Jet, with his old flock, with which he has now returned to. Now Nix and I are on our way to Europe, unaware we are on our way to our greatest and final adventure.

Chapter 1: Ancient Evil

Nix and I stand upon the bow of the deluxe cruiser that is taking us to Greece. He comments on how much I have grown since we left Tokyo. I tell him that this is only because of everything he, Captain Tajiro and many others have taught me. But I do have to admit that I have defeated every evil creature that has shown itself before me. Doing so has made me the most famous person in the world, to the point where I have my own TV show now!

The cruiser docks in a small town in Greece called Nafplio, during which point Nix and I figure out that Greece is safe from any evil forces right now. I suggested we take this opportunity to research the Grecian wilderness, and like that, we were off exploring the countryside. A couple hours later, we arrived in a town called Mykines, which has been said to have been the home of the legendary hero, Perseus. One of the townsfolk said that Perseus' Tomb was located in this general area, so Nix and I decided to check it out.

A little ways north, we found a rocky outcropping with a stone doorway in it: This was the tomb of Perseus. I managed to open the door and enter the tomb, to find the skeletal remains of man holding a sinister box. This was obviously Perseus, so I chose to pay my respects to the great hero before leaving this tomb. Nix was beginning to get a little tired, so we chose to set up camp here for the night and move out tomorrow morning.

When we finished setting up the tent, I looked up to the sky to see that it had an ominous glow to it. Nix realized that a lunar eclipse will be happening soon. This brings memories back to me of that time almost six years ago when I saw the solar eclipse shortly before the attack of the Dark Moon Circus. I suddenly remember that today's date is June 30, Serena's 21st birthday, and I should call her to wish her a happy birthday.

We haven't spoken to each other since the day of her wedding, so I was certain Serena would be happy to hear from me again. When the communication was answered though, I was shock to see Serena was a more bloated than when I last saw her. She and Darien looked at each other and agree to tell me the news: Serena was 8 ½ months pregnant with Rini. I was filled with so much joy; soon I would be able to see Rini's smiling face more often. Serena also said told me about what was going on with the other girls.

Amy miraculously completed college and med school in just 33 months, and was now back in Tokyo working as a pediatrician. Raye's grandfather passed away last year from a heart attack, and realizing how much she loved the Hikawa Shrine, Raye has decided to remain at the Shrine until the day we travel to Crystal Tokyo. Lita has mastered and improved on all of Ichiro and Maya's recipes, and has been allowed to run their restaurant full time in their place. Mina is currently on a tour of Europe as part of her idol career, so I may run into her at some point.

Amara and Michelle are still working their jobs as high school teachers, and find plenty of time to raise their adopted child. Trista's fashion designs have become world famous and Mina is still her top model for all of her designs. Hotaru has started her first year of college in becoming a scientist like her father. Serena finishes by informing me that she has seen all of my heroic deeds in the news and wishes me luck on my adventure. I ask her to inform me when Rini is born as soon as possible, to which she promises before ending communication.

I look up to the sky once more to see that it's almost time for the lunar eclipse, but suddenly, Nix and I hear a hissing coming from the nearby bushes. A Scarlet Kingsnake emerges from the bushes, and freaks Nix out. I remain calm though, because I know this is a nonvenomous species of snake. However, they are supposed to be native to America, so why is one in Greece? The snake slithers past us and enters Perseus' Tomb, and we follow behind it.

Inside the tomb, I keep my guard up with Nix close behind me just to keep him safe. The snake sneaks up on Nix and causes him to faint from shock as soon as he sees it. It then lunges at me and coils around my arm. When it tries to bite down on me, I use the Kuiper Blade to block the bite and force it off my arm. The snake flies into the remains of Perseus and cause him to drop the box he was holding. I go up to the box to see what's so important about it and open it up.

Inside the box are a human skull and numerous snake bones. Before I could find out what this means, the light of the lunar eclipse shines into the tomb and onto the skull. It then floats up with all the snake bones as a woman's body appears beneath it. The Scarlet Kingsnake slithers to the body and merges with the skull, and a violent explosion goes off. When the smoke clears from this, a mysterious beautiful woman with a head of snakes stands before me. She says that she would like to thank me for releasing her, and that she will make my death quick and painless. She points her finger at me just as Nix comes to and joins my side, and a blast of energy hits the two of us. We transform to stone as the woman teleports away giving off a menacing laugh.

Later, Nix and I find ourselves in a stone white temple, wondering if this is a dream or if we're dead. Someone enters the room and tells us that this is real and that they revived us from the Gorgon's Curse. We see before us an elegant woman in an Ancient Greek dress, soft blue eyes, flowing golden-blonde hair topped by a golden tiara, and was giving off a golden aura. She caught me off guard when she referred to me by my real name of Miles Tajiro. When I asked how she knew who I was, she said it was because she was Athena, the Goddess of Divine Intelligence, and last of the Olympic Gods.

Athena said that we were situated at the top of Mt. Olympus, the tallest mountain of Greece. I asked her if she knew about a woman in black with snakes for hair, and revealed that who I had just described was the Gorgon Medusa. Athena said that Medusa has returned from the grave and placed a curse on all of Greece that had caused it to revert to its time during the age of Grecian Empire. Athena continues to reveal to me Medusa's history.

Medusa was once an elegant maiden that served Athena, until she had shown her affections of love with Athena's uncle, Poseidon God of the Sea, in her temple. Athena placed a curse on Medusa, making her so repulsive that all who look her in the eye are turned to stone. Many years later, Medusa led an attack on the people of Greece, turning many to stone. Athena led the great hero Perseus on a mission to destroy her, and he succeeded in doing so with Three Sacred Weapons: The Mirror Shield, the Helmet of Invisibility, and the Sandals of Hermes. Once decapitated, Perseus used Medusa's head as an ornament on his shield until the end of his life, where he gave it to Athena.

Athena soon learned that the light of the lunar eclipse would have the power to restore Medusa to her former beauty, but let her keep her powers of petrification. So Athena hid her head in a box and left it in Perseus' Tomb to avoid such a thing. Unfortunately, that all happen last night due to me, and now nothing can stop Medusa from getting her revenge. Athena's father, Zeus God of Lightning, would have been able to stop her; but he gave his life to help the humans during the Bubonic Plague. This is was caused the disbanding of the Olympic Gods.

Seeing how this was my fault, I volunteered to stop Medusa myself, but Athena said that it was too dangerous. I explained to her of all the evil forces that I have fought over the past seven years of my life, and I notice a smile slowly appear on Athena's face as I continued talking. She asked me if she could see all my weapons, and I presented her with the Kuiper Blade, Solar Shield, Make-Rang, Comet Bombs, Whip of Eris and Bow of Haumea. She transforms the Solar Shield back into a badge with her symbol (an Olive Tree) and the Kuiper Kingdom's Crossing Comets on it, and fuses my other weapons together into what she called the Sacred Sword of Athena. She said it was a combination of a sword and a gun and can be used in both ways.

Athena then slowly approached me and placed the badge on my chest, and the white comet appeared on my forehead. Lifting two fingers on her free hand, she places them on the symbol and I felt a strange new power well up within me. When I look at myself in the mirror, I notice that I have transformed once more. My hair has shortened and changed back to its dark brown color, but still had its messiness of my last transformations. My eyes are still blue and I still have my freckles. I was now wearing a white Grecian tunic over a black leotard that stopped halfway down my thighs, brown sandals that reached halfway up my chaffs, two blue bracers on my arms with gold trims, and a laurel wreath on my head. I also have a pair of white, feathery wings on my back.

I grab the Sword of Athena and look at it: it was a blue blade with gold trim, a hilt with a trigger on it, a white wing guard, and at the blades end was a hole in which I could fire my rounds from. Athena tells me that I should first go to the city of Thebes to see what sort of trouble Medusa is causing. Nix volunteers to wait on Olympus with Athena just so she could have company. Athena then says that she'll grant me the power of flight, and my wings start to glow blue. And just like that, I'm flying to Thebes, and my war with Medusa begins!

Chapter 2: The Return of Athena

While flying through the clear blue skies above ancient Greece, Athena contacts me via telepathy, telling me how it is I'm flying. Despite having my own set of wings, I am unable to fly on my own, and thus she has to grant me with her power of flight. However, she can only maintain it for about ten minutes until my wings would burn up and I'd fall to the Earth. I ask her how I was able to grow these wings, and she tells me it's because I'm a Demi-Guy (half-god, half-mortal). My mother of my past life, Chaos, was a god-like entity and thus her god-like powers surge within me. Athena continues to say that if I can prove myself a true hero, I would be able to become a full-fledged god.

Just then, I am attacked by a large group of monsters, vastly different from the Demons and Neo-Demons I fought in the past. Athena says that these things are troops of the Underworld Army, a dark force that has existed for millennia. Athena tells me to shoot them down while they're at a distance, and slash away at those who come in close to me. She also says that while the power of flight is active, the power in the Sword of Athena is increased by more than triple its strength. I follow her commands and deal with these troops in no time at all. Shortly afterwards, a large projection of Medusa appears before me, taunting me and Athena by saying that she has unleashed Orthus to slaughter the humans in Thebes.

Athena, worried about the humans, accelerated my speed towards Thebes, and once I arrive, we notice that the Underworld Army has already done some damage to it. The people safely inside their homes start cheering for me to save them, aware that I'm the hero they had pleaded for. Athena sets me down at the outskirts of the town before she cuts off the power of flight. She tells me the Sword of Athena is now back at its original power level, so the troops of the Underworld Army will take more time to deal with.

As I make my way down the streets of Thebes, I slaughter Underworld troopers one by one, and Athena compliments that I really am the hero I made myself out to be. Just then, I witness a huge inferno coming from the stadium, and fearing for anyone who is in danger, I make my way towards it. Luckily, there are no civilians in danger now, but I am face to face it a giant two headed dog that's on fire. Athena says this is Orthus, brother of Cerberus: Guardian of the Underworld. Apparently, Orthus was slain by another Grecian Hero, Hercules, millennia ago, but has since then been revived.

Orthus moved very fast in battle and became tougher each time I struck him. Also, many of his attacks could cause burns. Both heads were capable of either shooting multiple flaming projectiles, or breathing one large stream of fire. He could also attack with his claws and by swinging his fiery tail at me. However, Orthus' most dangerous attack is when he charged directly at me, a maneuver he could repeat multiple times depending on how low his stamina was. Fortunately, after Orthus used this move, he became exhausted and would temporarily lie down, making him vulnerable for me to attack.

Once Orthus could not get back up, I finished him off with a new trademark attack of mine, Kuiper Starstorm Blast. With this, I concentrate a lot of energy into the Sword of Athena, and it begins to glow. Once fully charged, I pull the trigger and a large number of spherical stars shoot out of the blade at the target. Orthus was vaporized by my finishing blow, and Medusa's projection appears and orders the Underworld Army to retreat. She congratulates me on my victory, but says I won't be so lucky next time.

With that, her projection disappears. I suggested we go after Medusa, but Athena told me that I should return to Olympus and rest for now. And just like that, Athena warped me out of Thebes and back to her side.

Chapter 3: Venus and the Armored Minotaur

In contrast to the clearer skies from earlier, the skies became darker and more dangerous the next evening. Whirlwinds of air and lightning dominate this area. Athena heard that a dark lord has been attacking the humans and dispatched me to deal with them. Many of Medusa's minions attack in full force. The lightning could have been fatal towards me and struck across the sky on numerous occasions.

Eventually, Athena sent me down through a massive funnel cloud where the Underworld Army gave chase. Towards the bottom of the funnel cloud, numerous Underworlders began to fire beams of energy at me that I had to avoid. From there, I reached ground level and made my way through a foreboding canyon surrounded by jagged and pointed rocks. Many enemies glided after me during my flight through this area. Along the way, I also passed over several tainted rivers and waterfalls, and flew through a massive archway.

Athena then sent me into a cavern where I had to battle multiple Underworlders standing along the twisted structures within. Upon being taken back outside, I was furiously chased down by a massive Underworld Whale that can spawn other Underworlders, forcing me to fly backwards and fight whilst Athena guided me through a ravine. I managed to outfly the creature, causing it to slam into a stone pillar extending across the ravine.

I soon reached an enormous wall at the end of the pass, which had to be flown over to get to the castle. At the top, Athena led me to an open wasteland lit up by the massive full moon where we witnessed a battle between the Grecians and the forces of the Underworld. The area was littered with fires producing large columns of smoke, and many flying enemies could be seen attacking the ground troops below. I knew that the Grecians needed help, but while Athena did agree with me, she reminded me that the power of flight can only last 10 minutes at a time. At this point, I made my way to the ghastly castle of the Armored Minotaur.

The mission of invading the castle was much longer than the last, with the Armored Minotaur's castle being a difficult trek to the throne room. While Medusa herself isn't present in this location, her army is helping to defend the castle. I had to make due on my own and deal with some new Underworlders that roam the palace. I soon came across a glowing circle that beckoned me towards it, and when I entered it, the circle became an elegant bow. Athena called it the Sagittarius Bow, a legendary Zodiac Item said to have great power. She warped it to Olympus where she'd hold onto it for safe keeping.

As I made my way through the castle, I noticed a group of Underworld Troopers heading for a small courtyard, when one of them was suddenly vaporized by a yellow laser. I instantly recognized it as a Venus Crescent Beam Smash, and sure enough as I entered the court yard, Sailor Venus was there battling Underworlders. I noticed one of them sneaking up behind her, so I took it out with a blast from Athena's Sword. Venus turns around and spots me, unable to recognize who I am due to my drastic change of appearance. As soon as I call her Mina though (along with her noticing the Kuiper symbol), she realizes who I am and is glad to see me. I explain to her the situation with Medusa, and she decides to tag along with me for old time's sake.

Sailor Venus did express anger towards Athena for allowing the war between humans and the Underworld Army get out of control, claiming that our world is collapsing as a result. As we advance further into the castle, Venus proved to have not lost any of her old battle style and was as experienced a fighter as me. This is shown when she was able to deduce that the Underworld Army set a trap by using a Treasure Chest to lure us in, although I was quick to fall for the trick and get us both into trouble. Despite this, we were both able to make our way to the upper part of the castle where the Armored Minotaur resided.

Upon reaching the throne room, Venus and I both battled the Armored Minotaur. Venus and the dark lord then spoke to each other as if they knew each other. The Armored Minotaur had a plethora of attacks, some of which were only used at more dire situations. One attack had it spinning around very fast when it was being overpowered by both Venus and me. The Armored Minotaur's cape was quite strong and could block back attacks with relative ease whenever it used the spin attack. In addition, it was capable of launching a variety projectiles, using an energy shield to deflect ranged attacks, summoning Underworld Troopers to assist in battle, and could rapidly warp around the room to avoid damage. Another particularly powerful move has the dark lord hovering in the air and unleashing a massive burst of energy, which almost covers the entire room.

I managed to sneak around the Armored Minotaur during one of its spin attacks and grabbed ahold of it to stop its movement. Sailor Venus then took this chance to strike it with Venus Love and Beauty Shock, finally defeating it. However, in a startling turn of events after its helmet fell off, it is revealed that the Armored Minotaur was actually Mina's friend from London, Katarina. Venus expressed sorrow at having to attack her friend, who was brainwashed at some point before turning to Medusa's side. Athena pulls me away before I could help, but she assures me that Katarina was still alive. I told Mina what Athena said and she wished best of luck in my fight with Medusa.

Chapter 4: The Hydra's Heads

I was flying around Olympus trying to get the hang of my wings while Athena watched me. Nix commented that I have been really improving, but Athena said that I still had a ways to go before I could dead with Medusa. Suddenly, many Underworlders came to Mt. Olympus to attack us. I managed to defeat numerous enemies that plague the area. I stated that the best way to repel the army would be to attack the leading force, who Athena revealed to be Hydra. The beast was now capable of flight and with two additional heads, it proved be more powerful the past Underworld Commanders. As it turned out, however, the multiple heads prove to be more of a burden than anything else to Hydra, as they all begin to argue with each other when I prepared to attack.

Once their bickering ended, the first part of the battle against Hydra took place. Hydra's three heads would each take turns attacking me during the battle. They had a variety of projectile moves at their disposal, including fire balls, bolts of electricity, and powerful laser beams that moved across the sky. On certain occasions, one of the heads tried to lunge out and try to bite me, an attack that was rather difficult to avoid.

Hydra could also charge a very powerful flamethrower attack that I had to avoid by moving to a blind spot. After causing enough damage to its violet head, it fell off, leaving the other two to attack. This process was repeated with the indigo head, before Athena blasted the blue head and the body with a powerful beam attack, which she dubbed the "Sacred Goddess Clobber laser". I then had to proceed to finish off the other two heads, which were still alive and terrorizing the town of Athens below.

As I made my way to ground level, I bore witness to the destruction being caused by the remaining heads to the once peaceful town. Athena takes me beyond the town's walls, where it is also being attacked by Underworld forces. I had to fight my way through the town, encountering one of the Indigo Hydra head in the process. The second battle was the easiest, and took place in the center of the town. The Hydra head was very limited when it came to attack, and would mostly bounce around trying to bite or crush me. After the second battle, Athena told me that the last head is near the ocean regenerating its body.

I was confused by this: as from the legends I heard, a hydra's body could grow new heads. But in truth, Athena said it was the other way around. However, if I could slay the last Hydra head before it fully regenerated, it wouldn't be able to grow a new body. I made my way through a well to find a passage to the ocean. Like Athena said, the Violet Hydra head was encountered at the ocean outside of town. It had used the water to grow a whole new snake-like body to battle me with. Now more ferocious than ever before, Hydra intended to prove that its one head is better than three.

This was by far the toughest battle of the three. Without its other heads to hold it back, Hydra was now much faster and attacked from the ocean. It moved through the water and used many of its previous attacks, along with a few new ones. By far, its most dangerous attack was when it dove underwater and quickly swung its tail across the area multiple times. After depleting its stamina, Hydra was defeated by my Kuiper Starstorm Blast.

Athena then warped me out of the area, as I was really exhausted and needed to rest. She even allowed me to use her hot spring when I got back.

Chapter 5: Vision of the Reapers

My next mission started with me flying through an area clouded by dense pollution and fog. As Athena guided me, she warned me that while Medusa's next commander to be fought is Eris, Goddess of Chaos, a group of Reapers have blocked her vision of her. So my next target was the very fortress the Reapers resided in, if I could take down their leader, the Grim Reaper, the path to Eris would open up. This is exceptionally bad news for me, as these death-dealing monsters of Medusa were among the most feared Underworlders of the past.

As I was finally lowered from cloud cover, I found myself in an unexpected danger zone as the glowing eyes of hundreds of Reapers dotted the surface of the wasteland below, all of them frantically searching for me. Upon passing through their spotlight vision, the Reapers began summoning their flight-capable Reaplette counterparts to knock me out of the sky. It was only after I made it past this army of death that Athena sent me down a massive fissure and through a ravine that led to the Reaper Fortress.

The corridors of the ravine were filled with Underworld Troops and Reapers, as well as multiple traps that included dangerous moving walls. The biggest obstacles of course were the Reapers themselves, which stood in various spots along the walls of the ravine. Aside from these hazards, there was also a heavy wind current that forced me in a different direction and got Athena lost in the process. Once she found an alternate route, I was able to get past the Reapers and make it to the fortress. However, in an unexpected turn of events, the Reaper Fortress suddenly unleashed a heavy barrage of lasers that forced Pit to fly straight through the gateway of the structure.

At the start of the ground mission, I found myself very exhausted. I woke up on the floor of the Reaper Fortress after experiencing a rough landing during the previous chaos. The fortress itself was rife with many traps and obstacles littering every corner, including spikes that rose out of the ground, guillotines that are built into many of the archways, and dangerous spinning mechanisms that ran along a track. The Reaper Fortress also introduced the Grind Rail to me, which I used to get to new locations. In addition, the Reapers themselves were patrolling every corner of the fortress with their line of sight. If I fell within this laser sight, the Reaper would begin to pursue while summoning its Reaplettes to chase after him.

During a later part of the mission, I had to traverse a polluted river area where more Reapers were patrolling. On the other side, I found a glowing circle like the one in the Armored Minotaur's castle. Once I entered it, the circle became a strange gaunter with a bull head on it. Athena said it was the Zodiac Item, the Taurus Fist, and warped it back to Olympus. Once I finally made it past the numerous horrors of the fortress, I was finally able to enter its central structure.

When I entered the chamber at the center of the fortress, a normal Reaper appeared and began panicking upon seeing me. As it turns out, this particular Reaper is actually the Grim Reaper, which ruled over all the others. He revealed his true form soon after, beginning this challenging battle. The Great Reaper had numerous attacks and would use different strategies depending on what level of the arena I was standing on.

On the lower level, the Grim Reaper would slowly walk towards me, and could harm me by simply touching his feet. After depleting a certain amount of his health, the Grim Reaper would begin stomping much faster, making it increasingly difficult to evade. Upon getting close enough to me, the Reaper would pause and try to stomp on me with much more force. If it attacked too much, the Great Reaper would jump up into the air and try to land on me. It would also jump a multitude of times in order to both attack and evade me.

On the upper level, the Grim Reaper would have emitted a red laser at me as a form of attack. Of all its attacks, this red laser had the furthest range and was often used whenever I evaded his closer-ranged attacks. If it connected, a group of Reaplettes would be summoned as well. The Grim Reaper would also slam his scythe flat on the upper platform and use a horizontal swipe to hit me. The Reaper would also point his scythe vertically towards me and shoot out three energy blades that could home in on my location. Similar to its other scythe attacks, the Grim Reaper would spin around and try to swipe me three times consecutively with his blade.

Once I caused enough damage to the Grim Reaper, a golden light appeared on his forehead. After one more hit to this light with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, the massive creature finally collapsed, ending the threat of the Reapers for now. Athena informed me that she could now detect Eris's location, and warped me back to Olympus to prepare for the attack on her.

Chapter 6: Eris' Deceptive Maze

I started the assault on Eris in the quiet sky, where Athena explained that the Reapers did a great job of hiding the entrance to her lair. I became puzzled, before witnessing the formation of a dimensional rift that led to Eris' Maze. During one of the most bizarre flying sequences of the adventure, I had to travel through a series of vortexes and polygonal hallways, many of which played mind tricks with deceptive walls and illusions; however, certain types of wall could harm me.

Enemies were everywhere, but also seemed disoriented in this space, with some randomly disappearing while others seemed to lose control of their flight. Towards the end, I flew through multiple illusions, including a recreation of my first flight, a short trip through space, a seemingly digitalized area, and a large hall with columns that could deflect projectiles.

The grounded portion of this assault would be one of the most complicated yet, as the Maze of Eris contained many illusions and tricks. It is also home to the Truth Mirror, which is responsible for the creation of the forces in the Underworld Army. It started with me immediately landing after the confusing flight into the Labyrinth. Athena and I bantered with Eris all throughout this quest, mainly commenting about the unique.

I began to grow curious about the Truth Mirror, and decided to ask Athena more about it. She said that this object could make a duplicate of whatever was in the heart of the reflection, and that would be how the Underworlders kept on reappearing. This made Eris a very dangerous adversary that we had to take down as soon as possible.

When I finally reached Eris, I was feeling a little perky and decided to give a little speech like what Serena use to give: "Underling of Medusa, the time has come for you to pay for your crimes against mankind. I am Sailor Kuiper, Sailor Scout of Light and Servant of the Goddess Athena! And in the name of the Kuiper Belt, I shall right wrongs and triumph over evil, and THAT, MEANS, YOU!"

Eris was initially confused by this, but decided not to think about it and attack me. Eris was capable of using teleportation and other deceptive tactics during the fight. One of her main attacks is to spit out apple bombs that could be hit back at her with the Sword of Athena, as doing so will cause the most damage to her. Halfway through the battle, she will pretend to surrender and tricked me into breaking the Truth Mirror, which resulted in something coming out of the mirror's remains.

This person looked like me, except his outfit and hair were black, he had red-eyes, his wings were more bat-like, and he wielded a menacing scepter instead of a sword. He said that it was nice to see me again after five years, and I realized, this was Dark Sailor Kuiper. Eris called him Dark Ultimate Sailor Kuiper, but he told her that was too much of a mouthful, and decided to call himself DUSK (an anagram of his name).

Eris revealed that this was her intention all along-however, to her surprise, DUSK turns against her and teams up with me. Together, we defeat Eris with a combined Kuiper Starstorm Blast. Immediately afterwards though, DUSK gave me a mighty kick and mentioned that he serves no one but himself and only existed for the wish to eradicate me. After stealing Eris' powers by running through the remnants of her black-blue flames, he quickly flew away.

Chapter 7: DUSK

I looked upon the setting sun from Olympus remembering what DUSK said to me after defeating Eris, and Athena activated her power of flight for me. DUSK rose from the clouds below to strike me. After a quick midair battle, DUSK flew off and went to the Surface. Eventually the Underworld Army got involved in the fray, much to my dismay. Medusa's projection then appeared, stating that she liked DUSK's style and offers him to be one of the Underworlds most powerful allies. DUSK rejected the offer and started attacking the Underworld Army too.

Medusa became confused by the rejection, stating that DUSK should have been allied with her when created by the Truth Mirror. Athena then suggests that the creation of DUSK wasn't complete when the Truth Mirror was shattered. Despite not being affiliated with the Underworld, Athena still said that I should defeat DUSK due to his inherently destructive nature. I then flew through various caverns and trenches, fighting monsters along the way while being harassed by DUSK.

At one point, DUSK will grab a stray Underworld Chain Beast and used it to fire projectiles at me. I quickly defeated the creature by closing in on it rapidly and slashing at its base with my sword. DUSK flew away again and landed in some abandoned ruins. I then landed into the area, with the Underworld Army also landing there.

The ground portion of the battle had me working my way up a mountainous area, where ruins are abundant. From the central area which has multiple paths, a single Underworld enemy wandered off towards an underground pathway. That likely indicated the location to where DUSK was. DUSK ambushed me at the underground area. There were a few Underworld troops around the area above ground, but not below, allowing us to fight without interference. After causing DUSK to flee, I noticed another Zodiac Circle (as I began calling them). This circle revealed the Zodiac Item, the Gemini Satellite Blasters.

Once I got back outside, I saw DUSK standing on top of an area of higher ground, where he used his Scepter to snipe at me from a distance. I had to pass through Underworld forces in order to attack him. When I managed to get another shot in, DUSK flew up to a group of platforms floating above the ruins. Athena had set up a grind rail in the middle of the ruins for me that led to the platforms.

Since DUSK was capable of unlimited flight, he would often soar across the area while shooting at me, and was also capable of performing a powerful mid-air charge. During the battle, DUSK taunted me, calling me a "puppet" for his loyalty to Athena, and said that Serena would never love me as much as Darien. This is what made me snap, as I leapt onto DUSK's back and stabbed at his spine. Severely damaged, DUSK threw me off and flew away from the area. Nix commented that this was a pretty dark move for me, and Athena warped me back to Olympus saying that it's time we bring our focus back to the Underworld Army.

Chapter 8: Palace on the Seafloor

The aerial part of this mission began in a desert location with sand dunes spread across it for miles. Athena explained how Erebos (the God of Darkness and Shadow) had returned and is guarding an important item known as the Key to the Underworld. As I approached the coastline at the edge of this desert, I am told by Athena that he will have to hold my breath and dive underwater to reach the legendary palace. However, when I have qualms about doing so, Athena instead decides to part the ocean to allow me to reach the Palace without actually having to dive underwater.

It isn't long before Athena's Uncle, Poseidon, reveals himself as the one who split the ocean, with Athena playfully stating that she was simply having some fun with me. Despite being slightly annoyed by this fact, the Sea God reveals that he fully supports his Niece's efforts against the Underworld Army. Meanwhile, I was led through many cavernous locations and ruins while avoiding numerous water-based enemies. I eventually reached the seafloor, where I proceeded to enter the Palace while Poseidon closed the ocean.

The ground portion of this mission had me exploring the great halls of the palace, which resembled a massive underwater aquarium. Due to the lower temperatures of the area, this area had several dangerous ice-based enemies. Erebos constantly spoke during the entire mission, often making silly remarks rather than trying to intimidate me. At one point, I had to ride a moving platform while avoiding enemies and walls that could push me off the edge. The Palace was also littered with electrified obstacles that often moved on paths, as well as some trap doors and water pits. I had to work my way through the rest of the Palace in order to reach its throne room where the god of darkness was waiting for me.

Before the battle between us began, I wanted to ask Erebos a question: If he was the god of darkness, and Underworld Army was full of dark forces, why didn't he outrank Medusa. He said it was because there was too much responsibility with the rank and didn't want too much responsibility. With that out of the way, we began to fight.

The battle with Erebos was goofy if I could describe it. Erebos utilized his unique shape shifting abilities throughout the match. He was the last of Medusa's commanders, so he was not going to hold anything back against me. Erebos was primarily a projectile user, and would either unleash rapid fire energy beams, or a slower-moving blast that resembled a demonic face. During this fight, he would also take on a variety of different forms with unique attacks:

Doll Form: he would change into a doll version of himself, and will simply bounce around to attack. Shooting the red gem in his belly caused the doll to open up and spawn a second, smaller doll. He continued doing this until the last doll was released, which was so small that it was hard to see.

Bat Form: he became much smaller, but was able to warp around the room by transforming into a swarm of bats. He could also release bat-shaped energy projectiles.

Pot Form: he changed into a pot with his face in its opening, releasing skulls that had to be hit back at him to cause damage.

Giant Foot Form: he changed into a giant foot and tried to stomp on me. This was by far his largest form.

Weapon Form: His final form, he transformed into a giant halberd surrounded by spears, all of which were decorated with his skull ornament. Both the blade and the spears attacked in this form.

Once he reverted back to his true form, I took Erebos out with the Kuiper Star Storm Blast, leaving behind the Key to the Underworld, which would grant me access to the depths of the Underworld, and Medusa's hiding place.

Chapter 9: Ship of the Space-Pirates

I began this mission flying up to space. I asked Athena why she isn't guiding me to the Underworld, and she said that I need to get the Treasures of Perseus first. I realize what she means, the Mirror Shield, the Sandals of Hermes, and the Helmet of Invisibility. Apparently, Athena left them in a place called the Galactic Sea for safe keeping, but they were taken by a group of Space Pirates. Now it was up to me to get them back.

I soon arrived at the Galactic Sea, where star constellations are born and held in place. It wasn't long before the Space Pirate Ship came bursting out of this ocean and broke one of the connecting lines of a nearby constellation. Rather than fight, the Space Pirates quickly piloted their ship into the distance, with me giving chase. Athena claimed that the pirates somehow got ahold of the Treasures of Perseus during their travels, becoming a target of the Underworld Army as a result.

What began as a pursuit turned into a frantic race against Medusa's minions as they attempt to break into the Space Pirate Ship while it began utilizing its many laser cannons, turning the area around it into a chaotic battlefield. Athena soon found a clear way for me to get inside and flew me straight into the hull of the ship.

Very little was known about the inside of the Space Pirate Ship, although it did seemingly have three-way battles between me, the Underworld Army, and the powerful crew of the ship itself. During the mission, I came across the Space Pirate Captain, who used a special horn to summon Space Pirates to battle me and the Underworld forces. Some notable areas have been seen within the massive ship, such as a storage room where the pirates keep the constellations that they have captured. I also found a Zodiac Circle in that room, this one held the Cancer Claws.

About halfway through the ship, there was a room containing a Hot Spring and a lone Space Pirate soaking in it- after taking it out, I rested in the hot spring until I was fully rejuvenated. In addition to the areas located within the Space Pirates' craft, I also traveled extensively along the outside of its hull by using Grind Rails set up by Athena, as well as numerous celestial pathways that formed along the ship itself.

When I reached the bridge of the ship, the Space Pirate Captain Blew his horn once more to call upon his crew, but he accidently summoned a Space Kraken that threw him off the ship and wanted to deal with me next. The creature used its tentacles to attack while keeping its head out of sight. In order to strike at its head, I had to cause enough damage to these tentacles to bring the rest of its body up.

Once its head was up, the Kraken utilized many new attacks, many of which involved lasers or projectiles. It fired a large blue laser in one of two ways- either straight ahead or sweeping from left to right or right to left. With proper timing, both of these attacks were easy to dodge. It was also capable of firing a storm of lasers from its eyes- these lasers flew at me in a random pattern, making them difficult to avoid, especially at closer ranges. It also had an attack where it shot several large balls of energy from its mouth in quick succession. If I was close enough, the Kraken would occasionally lunge its entire head onto the deck in an attempt to crush me - because I had to be close enough to the Kraken for it to use this attack and it lunges quickly, this attack is very difficult, if not impossible, to avoid.

Once the Kraken started to get tired, I took it out with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast. I noticed a door near where the Captain was and upon opening it, I found the Treasures of Perseus. Athena commented they still look like the way they did thousands of years ago. The time to attack Medusa has come at last.

Chapter 10: Battling the Serpent Queen

The aerial battle had me flying down to the depths of the Underworld with the Treasures of Perseus, where Medusa resided within a deathly fortress. Since I was using the Sandals of Hermes, I could control my own flight path. On the way, I encountered new enemies called Underworld Flies, which only reacted to the sound of a firing weapon. I made my way down a deep tunnel filled with dangerous Underworlders, which could now be easily avoided thanks to the Helmet of Invisibility.

After passing these many enemies, I finally reached the eye-shaped entrance to the Underworld, which could now be entered thanks to the key retrieved from Erebos. Upon reaching the dreary wastelands of the Underworld, DUSK joined in for the rest of the aerial mission, as he shared a common goal of getting rid of Medusa.

After battling numerous enemies, we reached Medusa's ghastly fortress where we must face the dangerous Underworld Gatekeeper, which could launch many laser-based attacks and would prevent us from passing. When the guardian proved to be too strong, DUSK executed a powerful kick to knock the monster out of the way, allowing me to enter the fortress while my dark counterpart stayed behind to fight off the pursuing Underworld monsters.

The ground mission began with me entering a room with three statues of Commanders from the previous battles. All three of Medusa's primary minions (Orthus, Hydra, and Eris) had to be fought once again by entering the doors in front of their respective statues. Upon defeating the trio of bosses, the path to Medusa's domain opened, beginning a long trip to the final battle.

A multitude of enemies faced me here. Many obstacles were also present in the fortress, including an extensive Grind Rail segment and a location with nearly invisible platforms that had to be hopped across. Medusa constantly taunted Pit along the way, but also revealed that she hasn't figured out exactly how Athena knew she could be revived in the first place.

The final battle with Medusa had me flying for the first time against a major enemy, using the Sandals of Hermes to circle around the massive Gorgon. Medusa initially forced me far away from her platform, where I had to make my way back while avoiding an onslaught of projectile attacks. Anything I could not avoid was deflected by the Mirror Shield. When I got close enough, Medusa began warping around the arena while launching more attacks, making her a difficult target to hit until she completely stopped.

Athena used her power to hold Medusa in place, allowing me to hit her much more easily. She now attacked by shooting fire from her eyes, as well as by spawning an inhaling fanged maw within her palm. This was the shortest part of the battle. After taking enough damage, Medusa's rage overcame her, causing her to transform into her monster form from when Perseus fought her (according to Athena). In a rather disturbing scene, she twisted and detached her head from her neck and began to quickly fly after me. Medusa's attacks in this form consisted of launching demonic projectiles and dangerous laser beams from her mouth and eye. After taking enough damage, her head will return to her body, allowing the me to deliver the finishing blow with the Kuiper Comet.

Upon being defeated, Medusa disintegrated into dust, and her Underworld fortress began to crumble. Things were starting to look up, but my conversation with Nix and Athena on this by a menacing laugh. A giant god-like figure appeared before me, to which Athena referred to as her other uncle, Hades God of the Underworld, who revealed himself not only as the one who revealed the revival of Medusa to Athena long ago, but was also the true mastermind behind the Underworld invasion. He declared that he will be a far bigger threat than Medusa, even comparing her to a "sweet, cuddly bunny", before bidding me, Nix and Athena farewell.

Chapter 11: Seed of Dreams

The aerial portion of this mission began in the smoky skies above a volcanic wasteland, where Athena and I discussed our newest adversary, Hades, and his plans to steal the sacred Seed of Dreams, which could grant any wish and is guarded by a monster called the Immortal Phoenix. This portion of the mission took me across many dangerous and heated locations upon reaching ground level, including a lava-filled cavern, a fiery sea, and a deep gorge made of flowing molten walls. Some notable volcanic monsters were also rife in this area. Nearing the landing point, Athena gave me two choices to either enter a safe-looking cavern, or to cut straight through the foreboding volcanic landscape.

I didn't want to be roasted alive, so I chose to take the path through the cavern. The sights in the area itself were also notable, including a chamber filled with beautiful crystal formations. However, things took a turn for the worst when I entered a deep hole, which was actually a massive volcanic fissure vent. A rumbling was heard, and I soon found myself racing for my life up the vent as lava quickly rose from below. I barely escaped as the lava exited the vent in a blast reaching the sky, and proceeded to make my way to the landing spot.

The ground mission of this quest was very dangerous, as much of the land was covered in pools of lava that caused severe burns. Magma based Underworlders were once again quite common in this location. As I made my way through the ruins of an ancient civilization, Hades finally began speaking telepathically to me as well as Athena and Nix, formally announcing that he wanted to use the Wish Seed to revive an orphan's dead parents, then make them wealthy and royalty.

However, as I battled my way through the Underworld Army bragging about my dream to fly (and Nix about his dream for a life time supply of Cat Nip), Hades soon admits the Seed is only able to be used by Gods, but stated the human race wasn't aware of this fact. This became worrisome for me, as I no longer understood the Underworld Army's reason for being here in the first place. Athena stated that I had no choice but to make my way to the Phoenix and destroy both the monster itself and the Seed of Dreams to ensure that they couldn't be used against humanity by Hades.

This trek was proven to be very difficult and included more battles with a deadly Underworld Troopers in addition to other powerful enemies. Along the way I came across another Zodiac Circle, this one containing the Leo Cannon. By following a stone path towards the edge of the mountain, I made my way to the home of the Phoenix and the Seed of Dreams that it guarded.

The Phoenix had become agitated after fighting off Underworld forces, and blindly attacked me. This massive reptilian bird was capable of a variety of fire-based attacks, including a flamethrower attack and an extremely dangerous burning charge that was difficult to dodge. The center of the circular arena also had a Jump Pad that could be used to avoid some of the creature's more threatening attacks. When the Phoenix took enough damage, it became stunned and fell to the ground, allowing me to take it out with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast.

Upon being defeated, the body of the Phoenix disintegrated into a pile of ashes. Just then, Hades showed up and claimed the Seed of Dreams for himself. He also revealed his true intentions of using it: he would steal the soul of the purest person in the world and use their power for himself. A portal opened up and an image of the pure person appeared: It was Serena, and she was holding the just recently born Rini. Hades stuck his arm in the portal and pulled out a ghostly version of Serena from it, while the real Serena lifelessly collapse.

My anger towards Hades was unparalleled now, and I was about to attack him with the Kuiper Comet, when I remembered Serena's last words to me in person: 'Please don't do anything out of your league'. This is what she meant, so I called off the Kuiper Comet and fell to the ground crying. Serena's soul called to me telling me that I would be able to find a way to save her, and that she believes in me. At that moment, Hades absorbed her soul into his body.

Hades proclaimed that I still had a month to save Serena, but doubted that I would be able to do so. Hades then said that now that he had the Seed of Dreams, he would be able to turn civilizations against each other by spreading this, with Athena realizing that she made a huge mistake in having me defeat the Phoenix, as the Seed's supposed guardian was the only thing standing in the way of Hades' master plan. Thus began the greatest war that Greece has ever seen.

Chapter 12: The Goddess of Nature

Nix and I were up on Mt. Olympus communicating with Darien, telling him about what happened to Serena and that she was still alive. Darien promised to keep Serena at his house and begged me to save her soul within the month. Athena then showed up to tell us that my next mission was ready to begin.

The aerial portion began with me flying over a seemingly quiet valley, only to discover two massive human armies clashing on a battlefield below. Athena remarked that the humans were tricked by Hades into fighting over the Seed of Dreams, which was said to supposedly grant the user unimaginable capabilities. Afraid of being overpowered by whoever took control of the Seed, these once peaceful nations became obsessed with taking the power for themselves by resorting to destroying each other in war.

I displayed a mood of sorrow at this fact, wishing I could alert both armies of the truth about Hades and his intention to collect all of the souls of their dead. However, the battle doesn't last long before it caused a disturbance with nature itself. Athena warned me of an impending disaster as the sky began to glow with fire, proceeding to fly me away from the battlefield as a massive meteor fell from the heavens and obliterated the two armies.

The nature goddess Persephone then revealed herself (via an astral projection) as the culprit, having apparently wiped out the armies with a destructive weapon called a Nature Bomb. Laughing wickedly at her accomplishment, she berated the human race as "scum" and establishes her actions as their well-deserved punishment. As I looked on at the incredible destruction caused by the impact, Athena told me to explore the massive twisted forest that the bomb has spawned.

Persephone meanwhile explained that she planned to exterminate the rest of humanity for mistreating nature, describing the Nature Bombs as weapons that reverts the land back to its natural state. As I made my way into the Nature Bomb Forest, Nix and I initially tried to reason with the nature goddess, but Athena concludes that we had no choice but to take her down.

I grew curious about Persephone's history, and decided to ask Athena about her. Apparently, Persephone was the daughter of the Original Goddess of Nature, Demeter, Athena's cousin, and the former wife of Hades. However, when Hades killed her mother, Persephone left him to take her mother's place. If there was one thing she hated more than humans, it was Hades.

The forest was filled with enemies from the newly introduced Forces of Nature faction, all of which were based on plant and animal life. However, when the Forces prove no match for my firepower, Persephone proceeds to summon the monstrous Golem, who knocked me down into the Nature Bomb Forest.

The ground portion of this mission had me exploring the maze-like forest that has fused with much of the original human settlement. Some survivors of the impact were found around the area, and left me rewards when they were freed. I had to make my way through this fairly complicated forest while battling hordes of Nature troops that guarded the location's many twisted structures.

Unlike previous areas, the Nature Bomb Forest was home multiple Hot Springs, one of which was quite small, while the other one was huge. In addition, the latter half of the trek included a small labyrinth that was initially confusing due to the similarities of its areas. Upon making it past all of these obstacles, Pit found my way to the arena where the Golem awaited me.

The Golem was a rock monster that actually only stood a few feet taller than me. The Golem had a variety of attacks, ranging from digging underground and tossing large boulders, to charging rapidly towards me and pounding the ground with its fists. This creature's solid body allowed it to take a lot of punishment from the my sword's attacks, making it a very effective warrior of Persephone's army.

However, its one major weakness was the red opening on its back, which was difficult to hit due to the monster's unusually fast movement speed. After this weak spot was hit several times in a very short period of time, the Golem was knocked onto its side and was stunned, leaving the weak point vulnerable to the Kuiper Starstorm Blast.

With the Golem taken care of, Athena warped me out of the Nature Bomb Forest so I may prepare to take out the source of the nature bombs.

Chapter 13: Wrath of the Nature Bomb

This mission began with Nix, Athena and me discussing on how to defeat Persephone. I noticed that the Forces of Nature and the Underworld Army were in battle, with Persephone saying that Hades minions were even worse than humans and that it was payback time for what Hades did to her mother. After I defeated waves of enemies, a Nature Bomb was spotted in the distance.

Athena ordered me to destroy the Nature Bomb before it impacted the town below, propelling me towards the descending bomb. However, Athena informed me that I must destroy its core because it might explode if shot at directly. Instead, I had to attack the green targets around the front of the bomb to reveal the core. Once all targets were destroyed, the front of the bomb fell off, leaving its core vulnerable to attack. I shot the core with a Kuiper Starstorm Blast, and that deactivated the bomb.

After the core was obliterated, the now-harmless bomb fell down to the ground. Athena told me that I must head to the Nature Bomb Plant up above to stop the creation of more Nature Bombs. I descended onto the floating plant-infested island that held the Nature Bomb Plant.

I began this ground assault on the exterior of the Plant. This area contained a multitude of electric fences, some of which actually rotated to make getting past them all the more difficult. I also fought many of Persephone's forces that heavily guarded the area, as well as the Underworld minions that had invaded the island. I eventually reached the inside of the Plant, which was like a maze.

I found my way through the interior after many enemy battles, and reaches the outside of the Plant again. Along the way I came across a Zodiac Circle that held the Virgo Energy Hand. After another long trek on the outside of this island along with fighting more enemies, I finally reached the elevator that took me to the center of the Plant.

I left the elevator and ran forward. Persephone called her Forces of Nature Elites who woke up and marched toward me. The battle then begins. The reactor pod was covered by a thick shell which I couldn't damage. In order to break the shell, I had to defeat the Elites and hit the shell with their bodies. After enough Elites hit the shell, it flew off revealing the core. I used the Kuiper Starstorm Blast and the reactor pod exploded. Athena made me fly out the Plant as it fell apart, while an angry Persephone placed my name on her "to-kill list". I successfully left the Plant and returned to Athena and Nix.

Chapter 14: Sanctum of the Moon

This mission began with me singing a cheerful victory song, due to my victory over Persephone. I claimed that I was now ready to seek out Hades and save Serena, but Athena warned me that the nature goddess still had dangerous allies that needed to be dealt with as well. One particular ally was a lunar entity by the name of Aether, God of the Upper Air, who lived in a mechanical fortress in the sky. As I was shooting down numerous monsters, Athena explained that his fortress acted as a lethal weapon, making it a priority to take it out.

She proceeded to point out the moon in the sky, to which I commented on how pretty it looked, and how it brought back memories of my life on the Moon Kingdom. However, my admiration of the moon quickly turned to shock when she pointed out a second moon right next to it. Athena claims that this duplicate was actually Aether's Lunar Sanctum, as it split open to reveal its mechanical interior. Before I could get a good look at it, the Sanctum suddenly unleashed a massive laser in my direction, and continued to attack as I began rapidly flying towards it while avoiding many enemies. Aether soon introduced himself, turning out to be very polite and respectful towards me and Athena (in an almost _regal _manner).

He even mentioned that he'd prefer not to fight, but the situation was entirely out of his "purview" due to Persephone's orders. After he attempted to blast me with the Sanctum's central laser cannon, Athena led me through an opening along its side. She eventually found me a way in, just as Aether attempted to close the gates on me. Each of these gates had a weak spot that could be destroyed, allowing me to enter a vent leading into the Lunar Sanctum's ground area.

The ground portion of this infiltration was quite extensive, taking place in what appeared to be a whole other world within the Lunar Sanctum (almost like a golden version of Crystal Tokyo). Like the goddess of chaos Eris, Aether was shown to be very fond of visual trickery and had many illusions spread throughout his domain. Some of these included holograms of various enemies that litter the Sanctum, as well as special mirrors that revealed invisible platforms and switches in their reflections.

Midway through the Sanctum, I ran into DUSK in Lunar Sanctum Control Center, who was casually invited by Aether for a rematch against me. Because the Control Center responds to damage by releasing bombs, I used this as a potential weapon against DUSK, especially since he was tricked into shooting it himself. Upon being defeated, DUSK flew away, leaving me to finish off the Control Center.

The rest of the trip to Aether was a long one and included traversing the Sanctum's moon-like outer surface, as well as an unpleasant encounter with multiple Nature monsters. I asked Aether why he went with a moon design for his base, and he told me that it reminded him of a kingdom he ran a thousand years ago. Worriedly, I also asked if the name Princess Serena was familiar to him, to which he said that was the name of his daughter. I was shocked: Aether was the king of the fallen Moon Kingdom and Serena's father in her past life.

I demanded why he didn't do anything to stop Hades from harming Serena earlier. He said there were two reasons: One, there was a more important mission for him at this time, and Two, this incarnation of Serena was not his biological daughter so he could care less. I snapped here, I was going to absolutely obliterate this guy. After fighting off multiple waves of enemies in different rooms of the Sanctum, I finally made it to Aether himself.

Despite his respectful attitude and seemingly delicate appearance, Aether proved himself more than capable of holding his own during this unique fight. He had a special ability to darken the arena, greatly limiting visibility and made the god harder to locate. It was best to wait for Aether to attack first, as the glowing projectiles he unleashed would often reveal his position. Upon taking enough damage, Aether's darkness power will increase in effect, making it difficult to even see where I myself was standing. He would also use more powerful attacks, including a lunar beam that could travel across the arena.

After I struck him with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, Aether finally went down. But I was not done yet: While he was still in his weakened state, I finished him off once and for all with the Cyclone Slash. Upon defeat, Aether's power drained from the entire Lunar Sanctum, causing it to collapse. During this time, a mysterious creature broke out of the crumbling structure, although Athena and Nix simply brushed it off as nothing important, instead opting to prepare for our next attack on Persephone's forces. Still, this creature gave of a familiar black aura to me.

Chapter 15: Shocking Battle

This mission started off with me trying to take off from Olympus before nearly being blown to smithereens by a burst of energy blasting through the door. Athena told me that Hades has rejoined the battle between Persephone and me. Hades revived Erebos, putting him back into the position of commander. Erebos was in a heated battle with one of Persephone's top commanders, Electra, the goddess of lightning, and reincarnation of Zeus.

Pit dodged both the Underworld Army and the Forces of Nature's attacks as well as avoiding the battle of commanders. After a while, Electra defeated Erebos, and retreats to the Temple of the Thunder Head to recharge. Athena told me to attack Electra before she fully recharged. I entered the thunder clouds surrounding the temple, only to avoid electric beams coming from the temple. I landed outside of the temple and headed inside.

Before I headed in, Athena warned me of the electric columns and walls. Once inside, Athena told me to destroy the gem to shut off some of the power. Electra shrugged this off, and I moved forward. When Athena told me to destroy a nearby train cart (as she sensed great power from it), Electra allows him to do so because it isn't her place. Sure enough, the cart held a Zodiac Circle that contained the Libra Absorber: A spongy item that when attacked, increased the power of the holder. After a conversation about Electra "squatting" in the temple, she accepted my challenge.

Electra then called me a "yes-man" and cute, to which I blushed, making Electra call me cute again. Nix said that I embarrass easily, to which Electra replied with "don't give it a second thought... fur face". Nix and Electra then get into a fight about their appearance. After I made the air current in the next room powerful, Electra said that I "had brains and brawn".

After fighting the enemies in the next room, I reached a room with many floors and electric currents, which Electra called "perfectly safe". Once all the enemies were defeated, the next room opened up with another power gem. After destroying the gem, I fell down a hole to a grind rail leading to the final passage to Electra. Defeating enemies along the way, I went through the door to reach a jump pad to the door to Electra.

Electra was the goddess of lightning, so all of her attacks were electrified. She could attack with electric orbs of many varieties. She could also send columns of electricity at me. She could teleport, and surround herself with electricity as well. Electra could launch electric meteors of sorts and lightning bolts, too. Luckily, I had one huge advantage: Her fighting style was a lot like Lita's, so I was able to avoid her attacks without much trouble.

After striking her with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, Electra went down. Without Electra running the temple, it collapsed and Athena told Hades that I would be after him soon. I think of Serena and feel relieved that I would see her soon.

Chapter 16: Mechanical Invaders

This mission started off as I slowly jumped off of Mt. Olympus because I was still tired from my battle with Electra. Athena informed me of the recent invasion of the mysterious, alien-like enemies; Athena informed me that the creatures were harvesting the Earth and its inhabitants. After Allen and Anne, Germatoid, and the Sailor Starlights, I was not surprised there were alien invaders. Meanwhile, Persephone and Hades had been fighting, and if the enemies never invaded, they still would be.

Hades asks Athena if she knew anything about the enemies, but all she knew was that they aren't from this world. Knowing how dangerous this new threat is, Athena's Army (or rather just me), the Underworld Army and the Forces of Nature formed a temporary alliance in order to fight off the invaders.

After fighting off the invasion for a while, the Sun God, Apollo (who was Athena's half-brother), came and helped us fight the enemies. Apollo apparently knew who these creatures are, and he says they are known as the Mechanai, an alien race that invaded wherever and whenever there was massive destruction. Everyone looked at Hades and Persephone, since they were recently locked in a deadly war. Persephone stood up for herself and said that everyone was a victim, and Athena agreed, saying that we all are on the same side. I infiltrated the huge colony so that the Mechanai wouldn't eat the world.

I landed on the Mechanai base. Fighting enemies along the way, I made my way inside the main tower. Inside, I found a moving Hot Spring. Athena told me that I could get to the Hot Spring if I went up a floor. Persephone wasn't sure if it was a Hot Spring or another type of puddle. I then went up an elevator to a place with a grind rail.

Athena said that when she was setting up the grind rail, it got distorted and turned out weird. After I rode all the grind rails and gone down the elevator, I got to a place where I could go down into the tower. I then went down the elevator to face the Mechanai Core. The Mechanai Core didn't attack itself, but it had electric floors and laser drones to hurt me. The Core also had a shield around it that had some gaps that I could attack.

After Mechanai Core was defeated by the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, Apollo saved me from the explosion. I was then extracted by Athena, and Apollo sensed danger. He turned around and he saw the Mechanai Fleet.

Chapter 17: Hive of the Mechanai

The aerial mission began with me being pulled straight into battle, as hundreds of Mechanai ships scattered throughout the skies over Greece. Athena conveniently uses her "power of weak point exposure" to attach markers to many of the crafts, which connect to their engines. This allowed me to destroy many of the Mechanai ships along the way by shooting these green markers.

Meanwhile, Hades sent in a large squadron of Underworld Troopers to loot one of the larger ships. I headed for the massive Mechanai Hive in the distance, while the Mechanai themselves deployed a new kind of troop to attack. Persephone noticed that these new enemies are actually knockoffs of Underworld monsters fused with the digital design of the Mechanai, although they were not much stronger than their counterparts.

I proceeded to dive under cloud cover and through one of the floating island bases near the Hive, which seemingly produced the enemy clones. Growing desperate, the Mechanai sent in one of their destroyers in an attempt to eradicate me, but failed as I made my way to the massive Hive. When I found the only entrance blocked by a force field, Hades crashed the ship that his forces took over earlier into the Hive, allowing me to fly into the structure for land battle.

The ground mission had me making my way to the center of the Hive, where the Generator keeping the structure afloat was located. The Hive was very large; containing what appeared to be a whole separate world within. It was also home to many deadly traps and enemies that often attacked in waves. One area had collapsing platforms in a large room filled with Mechanai Clones, while another contained many rotating blades of energy that had to be avoided.

Midway through the Hive, I encountered a dangerous machine that moves very fast down a curving hallway, and had to use the indents along the walls to avoid getting hit. At the end of this hallway was miraculously another Zodiac Circle, this one containing the Scorpio Scepter. I eventually reached an enormous room where the building containing the Mechanai Generator could be seen in the distance.

It could only be reached by riding across a trio of Grind Rails, where the Forces of Nature flew in and assisted in destroying some of the enemies that attempted to knock me off. After defeating them, another grind rail appeared. After defeating one more wave of Mechanai troops in a small room thereafter, he was finally able to access the area containing the Generator.

The large Mechanai Generator provided all power to the Hive. This fight was unique in that it had me riding along three cords that surrounded the structure, using them like Grind Rails. He was able to switch between these cords in areas where they were close together. Although completely immobile, the Generator had multiple defensive shields that deflected projectiles, as well as numerous drones that attempted to shoot me off the rails.

Halfway through the battle, Apollo flew in and attempted to fry the Generator with a fire attack, but unintentionally added more power to it instead. Embarrassed at the situation, he hastily wishes me good luck and flew away. With the added power, the Generator now began to spawn electrical barriers that it placed over certain rails, making switching between them a greater priority.

After getting a clear shot on it with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, the Mechanai Generator exploded, causing the entire Mechanai Hive to collapse in on itself. I was quickly extracted by Athena as this occurred, narrowly saving me from being caught in the implosion. Meanwhile, Apollo watched the destruction from a distance, saying that it was now time to go for the Mechanai Brain.

Chapter 18: Brain of the Mechanai

Like the previous one, I once again began this mission by diving straight into a passel of Mechanai vessels, all of which were now fighting in full force against two entire armies. Many Underworld and Nature troops fought alongside me, although they still weren't too helpful. Apollo also helped to burn many of the Mechanai troops and their floating island bases to clear the way, saying that it was time to attack the mastermind behind the invasion called the Mechanai Brain. Both of us went deep into the planet-sized fortress while Hades and Persephone kept the forces outside busy.

Upon reaching the center of the massive structure, a battle began that consisted of shooting at the Mechanai Brain while avoiding the many Mechanai troops guarding it. Before long, Apollo suddenly reappeared and flew straight into the Brain, seemingly sacrificing himself in a large, fiery explosion and causing me to quickly evacuate the fortress. Unfortunately for me, Apollo revealed that his plan all along was to take control of the Mechanai Brain and, having apparently succeeded, sent his newly acquired army to retaliate against us.

The Mechanai suddenly changed color and began attacking more ruthlessly, while I frantically tried to hold the invaders back. Meanwhile, Persephone attempted to use a Nature Bomb to destroy the fortress, only to have Apollo burn the resulting forest effortlessly. With all hope lost, Athena tried to pull me out of battle before the Power of Flight ran out, but Apollo once again interfered by blocking her abilities. As my wings began to catch fire, Athena opted to turn off my flight as a last resort, while Persephone called in her troops to carry a platform for me to land on.

The grounded portion of this battle was entirely on-rails, with me fighting on a series of moving platforms. The first platform was quite small, initially making combat difficult. Persephone remedied this by bumping me onto a larger platform also carried by her troops, providing more space for battle. Now approaching the Mechanai fortress once again, I had to fight off multiple waves of enemies while avoiding many obstacles.

During this time, the Mechanai attempted to destroy the platform by using one of their battleships to swallow it up. A second attempt had two ships sandwiching the platform between them, although Persephone's Nature troops were able to pull it out. Apollo, watching from the Mechanai Brain, acknowledged my determination and literally rewarded me with a Pyro Blaster attack launched from the interior of the fortress. The Nature Troopers carrying the platform tilted it to shield me from the attack, sacrificing themselves in the process.

With no one carrying me, I once again fell before being saved by Hermes, Messenger of the Gods and Athena's other Half-Brother, along with Nix, who arrived to deliver the Treasures of Perseus to me. Now able to fly on my own, I swiftly took myself into the fortress. Once I made it to the Mechanai Brain's chamber, I landed on one of the surrounding platforms to meet Apollo for battle.

Upon confronting the sun god, it was revealed that the Mechanai Brain has nearly assimilated him to create Mechanai Apollo. Now completely under its control, the Brain used its newfound fire abilities during this challenging battle. The platforms were slowly rotating around it, making this a unique fight. Initially shielded, Mechanai Apollo would only be vulnerable by destroying the generators lining the outside of the arena. He could then be shot at directly to cause actual damage.

The sun god himself used many dangerous attacks, some of which encouraged heavy use of the platform's Jump Pad to avoid. Apollo's Pyro Snake could be one of his most annoying attacks, as it was often difficult to dodge due to its size and homing capabilities. Mechanai Apollo proved to be a very strong foe, taking a lot of punishment before finally succumbing to my use of the Kuiper Comet as a last resort.

Upon taking damage from the Kuiper Comet, the Mechanai Brain seemingly weakened its grip on Apollo, causing him to unleash his full power in another explosion. I once again managed to escape, while the sun god began propelling the Mechanai fortress far away from the planet, ending the threat of the invaders. Although it's unknown if this was Apollo's intention, Persephone nevertheless claimed it was the first time he had actually been helpful.

Unfortunately, I had no time to celebrate, as I was then attacked in my weakened stated by a mysterious black creature. I fell through the clouds losing my consciousness.

Chapter 19: Chaotic Bracer

My head began swimming when I regained consciousness, but I could not seem to move my body around. Strangely enough, the name of Chaos, my mother, continued to appear in my brain. My vision came to as I saw one of my bracers on the ground when it was picked up by a little boy. I felt the warmth of a hand against me, and then I realized, I was my own bracer!

When the boy put on the bracer, I was somehow able to control his body. I started walking towards the nearby town (which was Sparta), to see if I could learn anything there. The town looked like it was in bad shape, and I felt bad about putting this boy in danger. Before I could reach the town though, the boy tripped and the bracer fell of his arm.

Just then, a cat came up to the bracer and slipped it around its neck, allowing me to control it. This was a plus, as not only was I faster, but harder to notice as well. I suddenly started to worry about Nix and wonder if he was alright. When I got to town, I saw my body flying in the sky, destroying something with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast. With only a slight distraction from the smell of fish in a nearby garbage can, I managed to reach the spot where my body was attacking.

There, I saw Sailor Venus battling against a squad of the Underworld Army. This gave me an idea to try and take over her body. I had the cat jump onto her shoulder and gesture towards the bracer on its neck. Venus removed the bracer and looking at it, she at first said that it looked tacky and was about to throw it away. Before she did so though, she noticed the symbol of the Kuiper Kingdom on it and thought that maybe this is what was wrong with me. Venus then placed the bracer on her wrist, and gave me full control of her body.

Mina took immediate notice of this and asked me what I did to her. I explained to her everything that had happened since when I last met her, including the ordeal with the Phoenix and Serena. She told me that Hades spoke about this 3 ½ weeks ago, putting me in shock. I asked her if she could tell me what happened since the Mechanai invasion.

Since then, I have become a threat to human kind. Athena had been ordering me to attack the humans ruthlessly, so now the humans have to battle both the Underworld Army and me. We both are under the assumption that if I'm trapped in the bracer, something else was controlling my body. Mina then told me to be extra careful with her body, as she needed it for later.

I battled through Sparta taking out Underworlders with Venus Crescent Beam Smash and Venus Love-Chain Encircle. Luckily these attacks were very similar to my Kuiper Star Beam and Whip of Eris, so I was able to get used to her abilities in a short period of time. After getting through town, I came across another Zodiac Circle, which contained the Aries Armor. But with no contact with Athena, I decided to let Venus wear the armor. She told me that she didn't like wearing armor: Because back when she was Sailor V, she once went into the disguise as a warrior princess and could not move around in the bulky armor.

We didn't have time to argue about it though, as my body soon came in and attacked her. I let Mina take control of her body once more while I acted like her conscious. I told her about my battle style allowing her to deal with me without much trouble. She managed to graze my wings with Venus Crescent Beam Smash, wrapped me up with Venus Love-Chain Encircle, and knocked me out with Venus Love and Beauty Shock.

Holding my unconscious body, Venus removed the bracer from her wrist and placed it on my own. I managed to regain consciousness, but was still stuck on the surface. She asked me why I didn't just fly away, and I told her about how it was Athena that did all that for me. Just then, my wings began to glow green and I was lifted off the ground. Mina wished me good luck on saving Serena as I left for Olympus.

Surprisingly, when I attempted to talk with Athena, I found out it was Persephone who was controlling my flight path. She told me in more detail about what happened after the Mechanai invasion. The main thing was that she had to pull back the Forces of Nature since the Underworld Army was overpowering them. Nix then contacted me saying that he was with Persephone since Olympus had become too dangerous.

I found out what he meant when I got there: the Olympus temple was in bad shape and protected by a force-field I couldn't penetrate. Persephone pulled me back to her fortress where I found out she also brought Mina there as they, Nix and I began debating on how we'd get back to Olympus.

Chapter 20: The Chariot of Lightning

I began begins this mission above an expansive woodland at night, where Persephone was describing the Chariot of Lightning and how it was the only vehicle powerful enough to break through the barrier that Athena has created around Olympus. The Underworld forces began attacking me in an attempt to keep me from reaching his target, making the trip quite challenging.

Persephone mischievously explained that in order to reach the Chariot of Lightning's Base before the Power of Flight ran out, I had to use a Deep-Space Cannon to launch myself high into the heavens. Although he expressed worry at this fact (as did Nix and Venus), the nature goddess nevertheless flew me right into the barrel of the massive cannon, where I was shot straight into space within mere seconds.

It wasn't long before the Chariot Master himself rode into view, although he quickly retreated into a vortex leading to the Chariot of Lightning's Base. As the Underworld Army gave chase, Hades finally greeted me after my long absence, stating that he wanted to steal the Chariot of Lightning for his own use. Both I and the Underworld forces followed the Chariot Master through the vortex, where we found his heavenly abode and its notably tall tower. Persephone proceeded to land me at the base of the tower, where I initiated my ground assault.

This part of the mission was essentially a series of rooms that each made up a level of the tower, each of which were connected by curving paths and Grind Rails. Every room had its own unique obstacles, all of which were accompanied by the Underworld troops that had invaded the tower. Due to its height, I often pestered Persephone about how tall the tower was, much to her frustration (though she did blush at some of these remarks). The Chariot Master also expressed annoyance at the presence of both me and the Underworld Army, calling us all intruders in his domain. This mission essentially tested many of my fighting capabilities.

First Room: The first room contained multiple pits where various enemies were hiding in. They had to be defeated to proceed.

Platform Room: I had to ride a floating platform across a deep hole, while avoiding the fire of enemies on another platform. Once across, a switch was hit to destroy the baddies with an explosion.

Electric Room: The floor of this room was split in half, where one side was electrified while the other was safe to stand on. I had to switch between the two sides as they changed, while defeating multiple flying enemies to unlock the next door.

Pillar Room: Two Underworld Chains were located on the pillars of this room, which could be knocked down with both melee and ranged attacks. I cleared the enemies to advance to the next room.

Barrel Jumping Room: As described by Hades, this room involved using Jump Pads to avoid rolling obstacles while ascending a sloping platform.

Ice Room: I had to battle multiple frosty enemies on the slippery ice floor.

Mine Room: I had to destroy the flying baddies in this room while avoiding the land mines littering the area.

Bowling Room: This rather odd room contained a group of Reaplettes lined up like bowling pins. A Wrecking Ball at the side of the room was hit by my sword to bowl it into the Reaplettes, although the ball continued to roll around the room and could have harmed me if I were hit by it.

Wind Room: This room was plagued by heavy wind currents that could knock me off the platform if I was not careful.

Transition Room: I had to shoot multiple targets on a pillar to bring it down. I then faced a variety of enemies until a Jump Pad appeared to proceed. This transitioned me to the upper part of the room, where I faced more enemies on a ring-shaped platform.

Maze Room: This room had me traversing a maze filled with Underworlders. It also contained multiple holes that I could have fallen into.

Arena Room: Hades challenged me in this room with some of his tougher minions. I still managed to clear all of the Underworld monsters and proceeded.

Hot Spring Room: To my surprise, a massive Hot Spring was found here, allowing me to refill his health for the final battle. I decided to ask Persephone how it all had to come to this. She told me it was because of what I did to Aether's Lunar Sanctum. It was actually a prison that held a creature known as the Chaos Wasp, which was the last remaining incarnation of Chaos. After I destroyed the Chaos Wasp, it flew out of the Sanctum and later attacked me after fighting off the Mechanai invasion. I then asked if it took the Treasures of Perseus, but Persephone said she retrieved them after I was attacked for safe keeping.

After making it through the tower's many rooms, I reached a final room with a teleporter that took me straight to the Chariot Master's quarters. I emerged outside, finding myself on a race track built for the Chariot of Lightning. To my surprise, I saw one of the unicorns with a smaller chariot in plain sight. The Chariot Master ordered me to take the reins of the chariot to use in the battle against him, to which I reluctantly agreed.

This began one of my most unique battles, as I had to control both the chariot and my aim while fighting the Chariot Master along the race track. The warrior used many electric-based attacks, including the ability to unleash lightning strikes from above. After his chariot took enough damage, the Chariot Master finally went down from a Kuiper Starstorm Blast, but not before congratulating me.

Upon defeat, the weakened Chariot Master fell to the ground and praised me for my strength, revealing a much gentler side to the initially bitter character. Although I wanted to help him back up, the old warrior stated that he was finally ready to pass on, and entrusted me with his steeds and the Chariot of Lightning. With that, the Chariot Master's body faded away. Persephone, in an unusual motion of kindness, commended him as an honorable warrior before extracting me from the Chariot of Lightning's Base. Think back about the Chariot Master and realize how much he was like Captain Tajiro.

Chapter 21: Mt. Olympus

The aerial portion of this mission was unique in that I rode the Chariot of Lightning instead of flying normally to reach Olympus, battling waves of Underworld enemies along the way. It was also rather short due to the chariot's incredible travel speed, and took place within a vortex leading straight to Olympus.

During this time, Persephone explained that Athena's sudden aggressive behavior could have been the Chaos Wasp's doing, reminding me that the creature was freed after I destroyed the Lunar Sanctum. Before she could further elaborate on this monster's origins (other than being the last incarnation of Chaos), the aerial mission suddenly ended as the Chariot of Lightning swiftly crashed through and obliterated the force field surrounding Mt. Olympus. I proceeded to land for battle, while Persephone summons Electra to guard the chariot for me.

Just as I began my mission, Athena expressed shock that I made it through the barrier. She claimed the humans were ungrateful and mocked me for trying to defend them, while I tried to convince the goddess to end her newfound tyranny. Throughout this mission, both Athena's Powers and the Underworld Army served as enemies, although there is occasionally infighting amongst the two forces.

Along the way, Persephone described the Chaos Wasp and its unique ability to control the soul of its host, likely explaining Athena's treacherous behavior. After hearing this fact, I concluded that I had no choice but to face Athena in battle to break the creature's control over her. It wasn't long before Hades excitedly joined in on the conversation, although the Underworld god admitted that even he found the Chaos Wasp to be a major threat.

Despite this, he still summoned many powerful enemies to irritate me along the way. During the latter part of the mission, I had to find a key in a small, maze-like dungeon where I also found a Zodiac Circle that contained the Capricorn Club. Luckily, I could just leave this with the other nearby Zodiac Weapons. Near the edge of the temple, I had to battle one final wave of dangerous Underworld Troopers before proceeding to the courtyard where Athena awaited him.

As expected, Athena was prepared to battle with me, although it was actually the invisible Chaos Wasp that I had to attack to cause any meaningful damage. Shooting at and defeating the goddess herself would have actually penalized me and end my life. Because of this, continuous dodging was a far more necessary measure to survive Athena's many attacks.

Meanwhile, Persephone explained that the Chaos Wasp was actually located high above Athena, forcing me to shoot in that general area until my shots impacted the invisible creature. After taking enough hits, the Chaos Wasp dropped out of the air and revealed itself as a cyclopean insect. It rarely attacked directly, but Athena still fought for the monster while it flew around the arena. On many occasions, the Chaos Wasp actually grabbed ahold of Athena and used her as a shield in a failed attempt to trick me into shooting the goddess instead. Eventually, it disappeared and returned above Athena until it was shot down again. I took this chance to hit the Chaos Wasp with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast.

After being hit, the Chaos Wasp burned up and released its hold on Athena's soul. However, just as the goddess was about to reawaken, the monster quickly revived itself and used its hook-like tail to forcefully remove Athena's soul from her body, turning her into stone. The Chaos Wasp tore open a dimensional rift leading to its home of the Chaos Vortex, where it quickly retreated with Athena's soul. As the passage had begun to close, DUSK suddenly rode into view on the Chariot of Lightning and crashed it into the rift, creating a permanent opening. Seemingly becoming an ally, my dark counterpart claimed that I must save Athena before the Chaos Wasp devoured her soul.

Chapter 22: The Vortex of Chaos

My mission to save Athena's Soul began directly outside on Olympus, although I quickly flew through the dimensional rift leading to the Chaos Vortex. Lead by Persephone once again, I was taken through this realm of pure chaos, filled to the brim with clones of various Underworld enemies created by the Chaos Wasp. Before making it far, a wall of spooky-looking eyes suddenly appeared and scared both Persephone and I, followed by a barrage of shadowy hands that attempted to block my path.

The situation only got more bizarre when the area went completely dark and my colors became inverted. Upon making it out of this area, my color palette then became very dark until it was washed out when I flew through a flowing, midair Hot Spring. Shortly after, the Chaos Vortex introduced Shadowy Versions of myself that I had to fight, which were essentially evil clones of me armed with his various weapons (not as strong as DUSK fortunately).

As I finally made it deep enough into the vortex, Persephone quickly pointed out the Chaos Wasp in the distance, beginning a fast-paced race to reach it before the Power of Flight ran out. Speeding past a deformed underground city, I chased the creature through multiple eye-shaped portals leading to areas that resembled locations from the Nature Bomb Forest and the Armored Minotaur's Castle. During this time, I shot at the Chaos Wasp while avoiding its own shots and clones that tried to confuse me.

Before long, the chase led back into the main area of the Chaos Vortex, where everything was seemingly falling apart as the Chaos Wasp grew desperate. The monster finally crashed into a floating rock, rendering it defenseless for a short amount of time. Once I shot at it this time, the Chaos Wasp fell to the large platform below, beginning the ground battle.

The battle took place on the single massive platform that the Chaos Wasp fells onto, although the creature was nowhere to be found when I landed. Instead, it remained invisible and sent an entire army of its clones to battle me in separate waves. Being based on my memories, this army consisted of Underworld, Forces of Nature, and Mechanai troops that all collaborated in different ways unique to this fight.

The first eight waves I had to fight by myself, and consisted of some of the hardest combinations I had to fight in this adventure. As the ninth wave began, DUSK suddenly flew onto the battlefield to assist in wiping out the remaining enemies. He explained how he and I are connected despite being separate beings, making it his priority to keep me alive.

We took on the remaining five waves without much hassle, and just when the Chaos Wasp was about to show itself, DUSK said it was time for our battle cry: "Incarnation of Chaos, hear are words," **"and see our actions!" **"I'm Sailor Kuiper, Servant of Athena!" **"And I am DUSK, Servant of only myself!" **_**"Together we'll bring you to your doom!"**_

The Chaos Wasp was a fairly challenging fight, but not because of its strength. Instead, the creature's small size and fast movements made it a very difficult target to hit. Persephone helped to remedy this by spawning a weapon on the battlefield called an Electro Trap, which could pin down the Chaos Wasp for a short amount of time. Otherwise, the monster itself didn't attack very often, but easily disorient us by flying circles around us. DUSK also proves to be a valuable ally, as he often helps to distract the Chaos Wasp to make it easier to hit.

We soon lured it into the Electro Trap and took it out with a double Kuiper Comet. The monster finally exploded and released Athena's soul. With her soul given back, Athena's body returned from its petrified state and she reawakened. However, the Chaos Wasp once again revived itself as a snake-like cloud, but chose to go after DUSK instead. It pulls him off the edge of the arena while I frantically gave chase. I begged Persephone to give me the Power of Flight, despite it being used up after the aerial mission.

She finally obliged, allowing me to speed down faster while my wings began to burn. After getting ahold of DUSK, Persephone extracted the two of us and returned us to Olympus, where I was shown to be unconscious and my wings burned away, exposing the bone underneath. Athena picked him me and looked to the heavens with sadness as she recalled my wish to fly on my own, knowing that I could very well die from my wounds.

Chapter 23: Singed Wings

Persephone, Nix and Mina arrive on Olympus to discuss with Athena and DUSK how they could save me from death. Athena and Persephone recall a story of the Fountain of Reversal that was located in the City of Souls. Apparently, this Fountain had the powers to reverse any damage done to whoever touched the water. Knowing that he would vanish if I died, DUSK volunteered to be the one to take me there. Athena gave him the direction to the Fountain and took off for it.

Athena and Persephone remarked that since DUSK could fly on his own due to Eris' powers still inside of him, he could go directly to the Fountain of Reversal with minimal interruption. Along the way, Athena explained her plan and Persephone commented on the Goddess of Divine Intelligence's risky business of cheating death. Athena acknowledged the nature of her actions but goes along with them.

Once in the City of Souls, Hades joined the conversation, to DUSK's annoyance, and it became clear that the lord of the Underworld had been using souls of humans to craft his monsters along with letting them be consumed by both himself and a monster residing within the City of Souls. Realizing that Hades has thrown off the balance of the Underworld, Surface and heavens, Athena, Persephone, and DUSK all agreed that Hades needed to be stopped. But, as Persephone pointed out, they needed me to accomplish that goal.

DUSK made his way to the Fountain of Reversal, but ended up stunned momentarily before he could do anything once there. Eris emerges from the Fountain, being resurrected by the powers that DUSK stole from her shortly after his creation. DUSK battled her with his scepter and dished out a large amount of damage to her.

Eris retreated back into the Fountain, only to use its powers to be revived as Amazon Eris, her human form. This time, she was slightly more tricky, as Amazon Eris had access to a new range of attacks. Amazon Eris was capable of teleporting around the area and she sent heart-shaped attacks toward DUSK that could reflect his ranged attacks. Dodging these and aiming carefully led to a relatively easy victory. However, Amazon Eris "played dead" about half way through, pausing as if defeated, but came back a few seconds later saying, "Just kidding."

DUSK ultimately defeated her with his Black Kuiper Starstorm Blast, and Athena sent me to him. DUSK quickly dipped my tattered wings into the Fountain and its power restored them, reviving me, who jumped up with an ecstatic cheer. But, before I could mention anything to DUSK, he jumped off the side of the Fountain, only to find himself unable to fly. Persephone retrieved him, and Athena extracted Pit back to Olympus as I told her how much he missed her.

Chapter 24: The Underworld's King

With everything that had happened since the battle with the Phoenix, there was only one day left now to save Serena's soul from Hades. Without any though about this, I equipped the Treasures of Perseus and dove down into the Underworld plowing through many waves of enemies. Athena stated that unlike Medusa, Hades could reside in any part of the Underworld since it was his domain. This forced me to go deeper by flying through a long and dark cavern littered with harmful glowing symbols that I had to quickly avoid.

Before long, I found myself completely surrounded by darkness, though the god of the Underworld soon appeared before me and sent more dangerous troops to attack. When I got close enough, I was able to attack Hades while he made fun of the Treasures of Perseus, beginning what appeared to be the final battle.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, Hades struck me with a powerful blow that obliterated the Treasures of Perseus with little effort, leaving me with nothing more than the Sword of Athena. For the second part of this battle, I used my weapon while avoiding additional swipes and punches from Hades to defeat him. Unfortunately, before I could use the Kuiper Starstorm Blast, the lord of the Underworld opted to eat me instead, inhaling a large amount of air to forcefully bring me into his mouth and down his evil gullet.

I soon woke up and realized that I was inside the belly of Hades, much to my disgust. I discovered that I was unable to speak to Athena from this location and had to rely on my own wits to make it out alive. Surprisingly, Hades himself was still able to communicate with me and initially attempted to expel me "the old-fashioned way", but to no avail.

This mission was filled with new cellular forms of traditional enemies that more or less attacked in the same way as their normal counterparts. After defeating some of these creatures at the mission's start, I proceeded down a hall filled with cell walls that had to be attacked to temporarily dispatch them. This led to a twisting path containing moving platforms that were guarded by many more cellular monsters.

Eventually, I made it to a large room filled with blood vessels that could be used like Grind Rails, which proved to be very useful in getting him across the lake of bodily acid below. Upon making it to the other side, I rode one more blood vessel blocked by multiple destructible walls, eventually landing at the very center of Hades' stomach. Appearance-wise, this area was much less biological than the rest and resembles a circular room surrounded by a swirling vortex. On the center of this platform was a Zodiac Circle that held the Aquarius Blade. Since I couldn't send it to Athena, I used this blade along with the Sword of Athena to more easily deal with the enemies here.

Once that was done, Hades comically attempted to hurt me by punching himself in the gut, causing his entire damaging arm to extend across the room before being pulled out. After this failed, the god grew hungry and resorted to eating his own troops and some other inanimate objects such as ruins and boulders. During this time, which included a heated moral discussion about eating souls, I battled a plethora of dangerous non-cellular enemies.

Between each wave of enemies, I also watched the ground for shadows of falling objects to avoid getting crushed. Upon clearing this room, Pit advanced down a tunnel guarded by more cellular enemies, although it wasn't long before the area began to shake. Hades revealed that Persephone was laying siege to his forces and seemingly ignored me angel for the rest of the mission to deal with her. It wasn't long before I reached a bridge leading to a chamber containing Hades' Heart. My own heart skipped a beat when I saw that along the wall of this room was Serena's soul as well.

Upon entering the chamber, I discovered that the heart of Hades acted independently of its owner and freely walked around on its two stubby legs. Despite its adorable appearance, this was one of my toughest fights due to its quick and unpredictable movements, as well as the complex, grid-like structure of the arena. Hades' Heart had the ability to create a nearly identical clone of itself that eventually exploded into a powerful set of flames. These flames extended across the area in all directions, so a quick reaction time was necessary to avoid this attack.

Occasionally, the heart also became enraged from being hit too much, causing it to sprint around the arena in an attempt to ram me multiple times. This attack was very difficult to avoid due to the creature's deceptively fast movement speed, but it was still possible to do so with a number of impeccably-timed dodges. Although the heart took a lot of punishment, it was eventually defeated with the Kuiper Starstorm Blast.

The heart exploded and caused Hades a satisfying amount of pain. I saw Serena's soul getting suck into the wall, and I rushed to her. Serena told me to leave her as I tried to pull her out, getting stuck myself. I told her that I was not leaving this place without her, and was willing to even give my own life to save my best friend. Serena stopped me by saying I was not her best friend to her, I was like her brother. This compelling moment gave me the strength I needed to fight through the wall with Serena in tow and make it outside of Hades' body.

Before I had time to plan an escape, DUSK suddenly flew by on the Chariot of Lightning and rescued us. The Underworld god, despite experiencing excruciating pain, attempted to grab ahold of us as we flew away. Fortunately, we were able to escape just in time and return to a relieved Athena. Meanwhile, Hades reflected on this painful experience and amusingly exclaims "but hey, at least I'm not dead!"

Back on Olympus, everyone congratulated me on finally saving Serena's soul from Hades' grasp, when suddenly I felt a strange warmth envelope my body. Everyone looked upon me in shock before Athena produced a mirror to show me what happened. My body was surrounded by a golden glow, I had become a god! In honor of this memorable situation and what actions I had done for this to happen, I was dubbed Sailor Kuiper: God of Honor. I commented on how we should now discuss a way to deal with Hades once and for all.

Chapter 25: The Great Trials

I began this mission enroute to a strange dimension that belonged to Hephaestus, God of the Forge, where I instantly noticed that the Underworld Army, Forces of Nature, and Mechanai Fleet were all attacking him. Now that I was a god myself, I could fly by my own power for as long as I pleased. Athena explained that the mission was to seek out the god of the forge himself, who was said to be one of the most powerful divine beings due to his ability to create nearly anything with his power (including the apparently superior copies of the enemies encountered here).

Pit flew on over to Hephaestus's Workshop where the elderly god greeted me with a nice hello. He promised to help me if I could pass his challenge that consisted of three trials. After flying through the great hallway of the workshop, I entered a room with a large circular platform, where I landed to begin the long ground battle.

Trial 1: The first trial was the longest of the three, including battles with a variety of enemies and some returning bosses. During the long stair climb I first had to fight Underworlders. A door unlocked at the top of the stairs after clearing the enemies that led to a copy of the Phoenix I had to battle. This Phoenix was Hephaestus's creation, although it was fought in the same way as before. Upon defeating the Phoenix, I moved on to another wave of returning enemies (these from the Forces of Nature). A second door unlocked, leading to a second battle with the Golem, who still had a "busted keister" that served as its weak point. After defeating the rock monster, I proceeded to battle a final wave of enemies (the Mechanai Fleet) before facing the Space Kraken. This copy of the Kraken appeared to fight somewhat differently this time, as it used its water blast attack more often. Defeating the beast brought the first trial to an end.

Trial 2: The second trial consisted of a battle against the least likely of opponents, the Sailor Scouts. Everyone except for Sailor Moon was to be fought here, and they all told me that Hephaestus had brought them here to test my skill against them. They combined their powers here and tried to hit me with Sailor Planet Attack. The move hit, but I used the Libra absorber to take the blow and increase my own power. I attacked the girls with Kuiper Starstorm Blast and they fell unconscious, but still alive.

Trial 3: This final trial was a battle with the Weapon Hephaestus said could defeat Hades, the Great Sacred Treasure, which was crafted by Hephaestus by combining the Zodiac Weapons together and bringing it to life with the final Zodiac Weapon, the Pisces Seal. This full body armor suit was not only ten times my size, but also has a multitude of different forms.

This battle has the Great Sacred Treasure using a variety of laser-based attacks. One of its most dangerous weapons launched a powerful beam of energy, with only five seconds to get away from the attack's range. If I failed to do this, he would be forced to restart the battle (as a god, I could only be killed by another god). After defeating the super weapon (with a point blank Kuiper Comet), Hephaestus congratulated me for completing his three trials.

I proceeded to equip the Great Sacred Treasure and took it for a test drive, only to accidentally crash it in the ground. Slightly embarrassed, Athena extracted me from Hephaestus's Workshop to prepare him for the true final battle against Hades. Before this battle though, I found that the Scouts, including Serena, Darien and the infant Rini, were all brought to Olympus to cheer me on in this battle. I took Serena's soul back to her body, and when she finally awoke, she said that she always knew I would be able to save her.

Chapter 26: End of the War

With hope that I have what it takes to stop Hades once and for all, I activated the Great Sacred Treasure and flew through the Underworld to seek Hades, with Athena, Persephone, Nix and the Scouts watching the battle with great anticipation. After effortlessly eliminating hordes of Underworld troops with the powerful Sacred Treasure, Hades jumped out of the ground and the battle begun.

Although he executed many powerful attacks, the Great Sacred Treasure automatically assisted in dodging these moves, while I focused in on the individual projectiles he launched with his cape and hands. Hades eventually spawned a nearly unavoidable twister by spinning rapidly, before quickly sprinting after me while unleashing more projectile attacks.

After beating Hades, he attempted to crush me with his foot, only to miss and launch himself back towards the surface thereafter. The Great Sacred Treasure proceeded to transform into Pursuit Mode and gave chase.

After I caught up to Hades, the Underworld leader introduced his "devastation ensemble" of laser turrets that appeared all over his legs, which had to be destroyed. The battle then moved to his cape, where he spawned more turrets that resemble his "lovely visage".

Hades' main weak-point here was the purple circular object at the top of his cape, which had to be shot at to cause him any more harm. Upon damaging this object enough, Hades turned around and launched a barrage of lasers at me, causing damage to the Great Sacred Treasure as it transformed into its Mech-Armor Mode. The battle then moved to the god's upper body.

During this part, more laser turrets appeared on Hades that had to be shot at and destroyed. He then summoned a portal on his hand that caused a force of suction while he fired blue shots from his eyes. After destroying this portal, he repeated the same attack with his other hand, which was dealt with in the same way.

The battle then moves to his chest, where more turrets appeared that shot lasers at me. Hades' weak-point here is the gash that I left behind when I rescued Serena earlier. The yellow shield defending this weakness was destroyed before the gash itself was attacked. Upon causing enough damage to this area, Hades will quickly grabbed me and attempt to drill my armor off.

Before he could do so, however, the top portion of the Great Sacred Treasure detached from the rest of its body and sliced Hades in half with a giant plasma sword. The Great Sacred Treasure then changed into Ultra-Light Mode. We both made it to the Surface and land near the town of Athens, where Hades regenerated his legs, much to my surprise.

For this part, Athena warned me that the blue projectiles launched by Hades had to be shot at, while Persephone told me to avoid attacking the smaller purple projectiles (as they caused unavoidable damage if hit). In addition to these attacks, the Underworld god occasionally unleashed a barrage of energy shields, one of which was usually red and launches fire-based projectiles that homed in on me.

Hades' new weak-point was the gem located just above his regenerated legs, which was shot at while avoiding all of his other dangerous attacks. Once he was defeated, I attempted to deliver the finishing blow, but Hades disappeared before I reached him. He then reappeared and quickly smashes the Great Sacred Treasure between his palms. Now completely defenseless (save for the Sword of Athena), I began falling back down to the surface world and crash landed on the cliff overlooking the sea.

Hades prepared his most powerful attack just for me. During this time, Athena sensed a powerful force seeking Hades, and instructed me to keep my aim on the god to guide this force. Just before Hades unleashed his attack, it was revealed a revived Medusa was the force, who defended me from Hades' attack by decapitating him. Claiming that she had grown annoyed with Hades reviving her to use as his puppet, Medusa attempted to attack a second time, only to be quickly destroyed by him once again after regenerating his head (which now had flaming blue hair).

Hope seemed lost for me when I felt a warm hand on my back. I turned around to see Sailor Moon by my side. She told me that we can defeat Hades if we combined our powers, to which I agreed. We each placed a hand on the Sword of Athena and started fueling our powers into it for a supercharged attack. Just then, we could feel the energy of the Scouts of the Inner and Outer Solar System come into the blade as well.

But it wouldn't be enough: Hades was already charging up his attack once again. I begged for more power, and just then, I felt more new energy enter the sword. Sailor Moon recognized it as energy from the Sailor Starlights, Sailor Galaxia, and numerous other Sailor Scouts. We had the entire galaxy on our side against Hades when we unleashed the true ultimate attack on him: Sailor Black Hole Implosion. A black mass flew straight into Hades stomach and started sucking him into that spot. Hades gave out an anguished cry, claiming that evil has been eradicated once and for all.

When Hades disappeared, Sailor Moon and I turned to Athens to see that it has returned to its modern appearance, as had all of Greece. Just then, a cloud appeared below us and whisked us back to Mt. Olympus. We were congratulated by a large amount of cheering upon arrival by Athena, Persephone, Hephaestus, The Scouts, the Cats, Darien and Rini, DUSK, and even Captain Tajiro.

I approached Athena and my future self as they both told me how proud they were of my valiant efforts against Hades. Athena then gave me the offer of staying with her on Olympus with her to reform the Olympians. I turned to Captain Tajiro, but he told me this choice was mine alone. I thought it over very carefully, but ultimately I decided: Over the past three year I had done a lot of growing up and now I understand Captain Tajiro perfectly. I will remain with Serena and the others until the day of Crystal Tokyo. Proud of my decision, the Captain then opened a portal for us, saying that this will take us to the Crystal Tokyo we were meant to go to. Serena, Darien and the Girls were ready for this and entered the portal without second thought, followed by Luna and Artemis.

Before Nix and I entered, DUSK approached me and said he planned to take Hades place as God of the Underworld. Athena asked for both of us to take her hands, and she transferred by godly powers to DUSK. He now gave off a golden aura while I had reverted to my Neo-Eternal form with only the Kuiper Blade in hand. DUSK bid me farewell and wished to see me again someday. Captain Tajiro approached me next and gave me a note and some blueprints. He said these are how he found the Platinum Crystal and how he made the communicator. Since this would be our last meeting, he felt that this was the best time to give this to me. He also told me to teach everything he taught me to the next Miles Tajiro, a promise that I vowed to keep.

One person remained to say goodbye to me, Persephone. She said that initially she couldn't stand humans, but now I had stolen her heart. She vowed that she would wait for me and promised to be my wife in the future. I was shocked by this, but soon figured it out; Persephone was the one for me. She approached me very slowly and we kissed (this was my first kiss). I said my good bye one last time as Nix and I entered the portal for Crystal Tokyo.

Epilogue

I kneeled before Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion in front of the Palace of Crystal Tokyo. By the power vested in them, they hereby knighted me Captain Tajiro, leader of Crystal Tokyo's army. I rose holding the Kuiper Blade high above my head as it is transformed into a giant Halberd. I then vow that as long as this kingdom stands, I will protect the royal family no matter what the cost. The crowd cheers as I pump my fist in the air.

After the ceremony, Nix and I take a walk along the beach, remembering all of our adventures we had together starting from our initial meeting on the Isle of Endymion. I also think back to all the people we left back in that time: Sailor Sedna, the Guardian Scouts, the other cats, Queen Serenity, Ian and Anthony, Chuck Norris, Jet, and especially Lucia Nanami.

I soon hear footsteps approaching us and look up to see Persephone right next to me. She looks a little older now, and tells me she has given up he immortality to be with me. We embrace, happy to see each other again. It was only a little while apart for me, but she was without me for nearly a thousand years. At this point, the ocean begins to ripple as two figures emerge from the water.

I look towards them to see a young man with spiky orange hair in regal attire, next to an elegant woman in a flowing white dress and luscious yellow hair in two ponytails. I'm confused on who they are at first, but after seeing a cowlick on the young lady, I immediately recognize her as the North Pacific Mermaid Princess, Lucia. She tells me that now she's the goddess of the sea and the man next to her is her husband, Kaito Domoto, King of the tribe of sea humans called the Panthalasa. I recognize him now as the boy I saw Lucia with on the beach shortly after my battle with Chaos.

I ask why she is here in this time and how she had become the sea goddess, so Lucia begins to tell us all the tale of her Mermaid Melody.

_**End of the Eighth Story**_

This story is dedicated to **All of you Guys** for reading the entirety of Sailor Moon: The Alternate Story and the Sailor Kuiper spin-off series. Thank You!


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